"We’ve made really good headway on crime figures and there’s been savings, and all the partners are pulling together but if the government pull the funding we are going to lose out.

"It would have a massive impact on the available resources."

Schemes currently run through Citysafe have included taxi-marshalling, new CCTV and conflict resolution training for bar staff. Others included training and support for Yemeni and Somali businesses at risk of crime.

In 2008/09, the partnership funded "57 specific neighbourhood partnership initiatives at a total cost of £393,745".

But Cllr Bradley said the government has informed the council it will not disclose future funding arrangements until October, and he criticised the fact that the funding was short term.

"That could put the cost of crime up again because the success of these schemes is based on their sustainability."

He believed if projects and schemes to lower the rates of crimes like domestic violence were put in jeopardy, the net cost would increase.

But city Labour group leader Cllr Joe Anderson said Cllr Bradley was jumping the gun worrying about funding decline.

He said: "I don’t know of any scheme that’s been scrapped because it was working. Performance has to be scrutinised, and it smacks of hypocrisy for Cllr Bradley to criticise the kind of scrutiny which the council makes of its partners in the voluntary sector every year."